Bytemarks Cafe

After the headlines, Caroline Kim from the Small Business Development Center will join us to tell us about an upcoming workshop for small businesses. Then, we’ll speak with Frank Schowengerdt, from the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, and Jim Crisafulli from the Dept of Business, Economic Development and Tourism on Hawaii’s Space Industry.

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After the headlines, Rob Farrow from Chi.mp joins us to tell us about some big upgrades to the company’s “identity management” service. Then, we’ll speak with Richard Brill from Honolulu Community College and Robert Paull from UH’s College of Tropical Agriculture about Genomics and advances in plant genetic engineering.

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After the headlines, Mike Stollar joins us to tell us about a new telehealth service called HMSA’s Online Care. Then, we talk to Susan Jackson from the Hawaii State Dept. of Health and Lou Darnell from Comtel about the 4-day work week and alternatives to working from the office. Our song pick of the week, Burning Bush with “Honest Days Work.”

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After the headlines, we learn about “Star Parties” and sidewalk astronomy with Barry Peckham. Then, we’re joined by Sen. Carol Fukunaga and David Watumull of Cardax Pharmaceuticals to discuss Act 221 and the challenges it faces in the current legislative and economic landscape.

• A new study of pygmy killer whales shows that those living off Hawaii tend to stay close to the islands and don’t swim out to the open ocean. There are very few of the whales, probably less than 200 individuals, in this distinct pygmy killer whale population off the islands.
• Astrophysicists have used neutrino telescopes for decades to study neutrinos originating in the sun and elsewhere in the cosmos. Now earth scientists are taking a neutrino telescope and looking down, to illuminate the Earth’s interior by detecting “geoneutrinos.”
• Hawaii might have a head start on the federal shortfall because of its early digital TV transition on Jan. 15. The first-in-the-nation transition date has prompted residents to order their redemption coupons early.
• President Bush will create three new marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean, spanning 195,280 square miles and protect some of the most ecologically rich areas of the world’s oceans.

Our song pick of the week is “These Dreams,” the opening track off the new album from Kenneth Makuakane.

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After the headlines, Russel Cheng from Oceanit will join us to tell us about a very cool iPhone app. Then, we’ll talk to Dan Zelikman and Sid Savara about privacy and transparency in the brave new world of social media.

In the News this week:

• Puna Geothermal Ventures is celebrating it’s 15th anniversary, and Bytemarks Cafe got at chance to talk with Mike Kaleikini, the company’s general manager, about reaching the milestone. Kaleikini said, “it was a tough start in the beginning, but we’re still here after 15 years and needed now more than ever.”
• In the search for extraterrestrial life, some astronomers are on the hunt for “Super-Earths,” and specifically, planets in other solar systems that may have liquid oceans.
• The Air Force’s Pacific Air Command is getting into blogging, and is going outside conventional military channels to do it. Acknowledging that their audience no longer turns to mainstream media, officials at Hickam Air Force Base recently rolled out the PACAF Pixels blog.
• Construction began in earnest last week on a 65-foot research vessel that will help a Hawaii-based ship design company develop and test new technologies for port security, including “unmanned surface vessels” or USVs.
• Event update: The Pacific Telecommunications Council will be holding its 31st Annual International Conference from January 18th to the 21st at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

The song pick of the week is “I Love Nerdy Boys” by Emi Hart.

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This week we’re joined by Miraz Jordan, who tells us about her upcoming WordPress workshops. Then, Jerry Chun from Humdinger joins us to talk about wind power and the revolutionary new Wind Belt.

This week in the News:

• Astronomers have successfully combined three telescopes located on Mauna Kea to create the largest “virtual telescope” for short wavelengths. The Extended SubMillimeter Array (eSMA) connects the signals of eight 6-meter dishes with those from the 15-meter James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the 10-meter Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO).
• The Hawaii Department of Agriculture is taking a bold step in its battle against an invasive species… with another foreign species. Over the past few years, Hawaii’s endangered wiliwili trees have been under attack by “gall wasps.” Now, state scientists have released a different kind of wasp from Africa in the hopes of stopping the “gall wasp” infestation.
• By using existing electric car technologies, coupled with an Internet-connected web of tens of thousands of recharging stations, Better Place L.L.C. of Palo Alto, Calif. believes it will make all-electric vehicles feasible.
• The Big Island is the best place to base America’s future space projects, especially plans to settle the Moon and Mars. That’s the bold objective of the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, or PISCES. And Director Frank Schowengerdt says PISCES has already been instrumental in bringing key NASA projects to Hawaii.

The song pick of the week is Porter Block with “Second Wind.”

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After the headlines, we’re joined by Alex Ho from the Dept. of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to talk about the upcoming VEX robotics competition. Then, we chat with Mary Hattori (Kapiolani Community College) and Jonathan Wong (Honolulu Community College) about virtual environments for education.

In the News this Week:

• A new Hawai‘i-Taiwan joint partnership in undergraduate education, community outreach and astronomy research was announced last week by Governor Linda Lingle. The partnership stems from the Taiwan-American Occultation Survey (TAOS), and is between the Academia Sinica and the University of Hawai‘i – Hilo (UH Hilo).
• Recently announced recommendations on the labeling requirements for “organic” seafood have been blasted by aquaculture companies for being too strict, yet at the same time criticized by environmentalists for being too broad. A committee of the National Organic Standards Board last week said it would recommend that the United States Department of Agriculture allow farmed fish to be labeled “organic” provided that wild fish and other feed that’s not “organic” don’t exceed more than 25 percent of its diet.
• Last week in Hawaiian waters off the coast of Kauai, the Japanese navy ship J.S. Chokai failed to shoot down a mid-range ballistic missile target in a test firing. It was only the second time Japan had attempted to shoot down a ballistic missile from a ship at sea. The first attempt last year was successful.
• A crater on the surface of the planet Mercury has been officially named in honor of a historic Hawaiian painter. Nawahi Crater, located in Mercury’s Calloris Basin, gets its name from native Hawaiian artist Joseph Kaho‘oluhi Nawahi-okalani-opu’u. It’s one of fifteen names announced last week by NASA’s Messenger mission, which marks the first visit to Mercury since Mariner 10 in 1974.

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This week, as part of our tech news segment, HPR’s Kayla Rosenfeld tells us about the test run of NASA’s Lunar probe on Mauna Kea. Later, we’ll talk to Patrick Henry from Univ. of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy about Dark Matter.

News stories for the week…

• Located approximately one mile off the coast of Kaneohe Bay in 100 feet of water, New Jersey company Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. installed one of its wave power generation units. The ocean buoys called PowerBuoy, harness the energy of ocean waves to generate electricity that is then sent back to shore via underwater cable.
• As the prevalence of broadband internet access grows, its reliance on dial-up connections is dropping rapidly. According to the latest “State of the Internet” study from Akamai — the internet powerhouse with the Hawaiian name — dial-up, or “narrowband” connections, fell nearly 30 percent in the last quarter nationwide.
• Last week Thursday, Hawaii County Council voted to uphold a ban on growing genetically modified taro and coffee on the island. The council voted 7-0 to override Mayor Harry Kim’s veto of the measure. Anyone caught violating it could face a $1,000 fine.
• Observatories in Hawaii were able to use advanced optical technology to produce the first “visible light” photographs of a multi-planet solar system outside our own. Scientists were able to see, 130 light years away in the constellation Pegasus, three “gas giants” larger than Saturn and Jupiter orbiting the star called HR8799.

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